2008-09 ScheduleDURHAM, N.H. -- Dick Umile, head coach of the University of New Hampshire men’s ice hockey team, recently announced the team’s schedule for the 2008-09 season.

Last season, UNH captured its second-consecutive Hockey East regular-season title and set a program record for Hockey East wins with 19. The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-straight season, a feat accomplished by only UNH, Michigan and Minnesota. The Wildcats will open the 2008-09 season at home with an exhibition match against St. Francis Xavier on Oct. 4 (7 p.m.) and will officially kick off the regular season on Oct. 11 (7 p.m.) at the Whittemore Center against WCHA-power Wisconsin, a team that has earned four consecutive NCAA berths during homecoming weekend.

The game with Wisconsin will be part of four straight home games in October to open the regular season. After Wisconsin, the Wildcats will entertain ECAC-foe Rensselaer on Oct. 18 (7 p.m.) and will kick off Hockey East play with Boston University on Oct. 19 (7 p.m.). UNH swept the season series with Boston University for the first time in Hockey East history a year ago, including a win over the Terriers in last year’s season opener.

The Wildcats will take on fellow Hockey East foes Massachusetts and Northeastern in two of the following three weeks on Oct. 24 and 31, respectively, with a trip to St. Lawrence as the only road game in October.

New Hampshire will meet up with defending national champion Boston College on Nov. 15 (7 p.m.) at Kelley Rink for the first time since the team’s heartbreaking 5-4 triple-overtime loss to the Eagles in the Hockey East Tournament on March 31. The Wildcats, who earned a sweep of the regular season series with the Eagles, will match up with their Beantown rivals again in a weekend series Feb. 20 and 21.

The first meeting with the Eagles is part of a six-game road trip to open the month of November. Perhaps the toughest stretch of the season will see the Wildcats play a two-game series at perennial national power Minnesota and will square off against league foes Northeastern and UMass-Lowell. The team concludes the month with a two game homestand against Providence College and Merrimack College on Nov. 22 and 29, respectively.

New Hampshire will face off against Hockey East rival Maine for the first time on Jan. 4 at Alfond Arena in Orono. The Wildcats, who swept the Black Bears during last year’s regular season for the first time in program history, will face off against Maine on Feb. 6 at the Whittemore Center and Feb. 7 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.

The Wildcats play one more game at the Verizon Wireless Arena in preparation for the 2009 NCAA Northeast Regional (March 28 and 29) on Saturday, Jan. 17 (7 p.m.), as they take on intrastate foe Dartmouth College in the eighth annual “Battle for the RiverStone Cup.”

The Wildcats will cap off their regular-season against the Vermont Catamounts on March 6 and 7 at the Gutterson Field House.